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PING-KUA, A GIRL OF CATHAY 




AT THE SHRINE OF THE GODDESS 
TEMPLE ON THE TOP OF TAI-SHAN, THE SACRED MOUNTAIN 




SOUTH WALL AND MOAT OF NING-YANG 



PING KUA 

A Girl of Cathay 



BY 



RACHEL R. BENN, M. D. 




PUBLICAllON OFFICE 

woman's foreign missionary society 

methodist episcopal church 

boston, mass. 



Copyright, 1912, by 

fFoman*s Foreign Missionary Society 

Methodist Episcopal Church 



.3 A 



BOSTON 

^fjt Cubor Ij^ttisi 

1912 



SC!.A31G553 



PING-KUA, A GIRL OF CATHAY 
By Rachel R. Benn, M.D. 

CHAPTER I 

If you go by wheelbarrow or mule-litter 
across country from the Grand Canal of China at 
Chi-Ning to the city of Ning-Yang, as you draw 
near to the old willows by the moat you will see 
the corner and south side of the city wall, gray in 
the evening light. 

Following the road around to the west you 
cross the moat on a stone bridge and enter the 
city through a great arched gateway in the wall. 
Note the huge iron-clad gates. They open in 
the middle and swing back against the wail each 
morning and swing out every night when the 
drum calls, meeting in the middle, where they are 
securely fastened by strong bars of wood which 
reach away across, with their ends fixed in holes 
at either side of the arch. 

Just inside that massive gateway, one morning 
about twenty years ago, a baby was born. The 
mother had climbed to the very top of Tai-Shan 
where the Goddess of Babies has her temple, 
knocked her head many times before her shrine 
and, while clouds of incense smoke ascended, had 



prayed most earnestly for a son. Then, stealing 
one of the boy-baby images from the shrine, she had 
carried it home and cared for it as if it were a 
real baby, believing the goddess would be pleased 
and answer her prayer. The whole family had 
hoped for a son, for girls are not counted as chil- 
dren in Chinese heathen homes. It was because 
of all this that the faces of grandmother and 
mother-in-law were dark with frowns and the 
mother wailed, '' Wo-pu-yao-ti hsia-jen," — which 
being interpreted means, "I don't want a slave." 
The baby was a girl. 

"You bad, wicked woman, whose prayer the 
goddess would not hear," screamed the mother-in- 
law, as she fell to beating the poor mother, whose 
disappointment seemed more than she could bear 
without added pain. 

"Your own ancestors were dogs, or you would 
have been given a better wife for your son," 
shouted the grandmother; and the father, hearing 
the uproar, knew he had been scorned by the 
gods, and burst into the room, howling, "De- 
graded daughter of foul ancestors, of what sin are 
you guilty that this curse is upon you? Throw 
the little devil away. I'll not be laughed at as 
the father of another slave." 

In the midst of this "domestic cyclone," as 
Arthur Smith calls it, the helpless babe was 
slipped away by a servant, wrapped in a long 
strip of blue cloth, its feet wound around and 



4 



arms bound in close to either side, like a little 
mummy, and laid on a warm brick bed between 
two small bags of warm sand. There it slept 
peacefully while the domestic storm raged. 

The father had gone stamping out to the court- 
yard, the grandmother and mother-in-law had 
screamed themselves hoarse, and the mother had 
threatened to commit suicide, before any atten- 
tion was paid to the innocent cause of the turmoil. 
Then the great-grandmother went and looked 
down upon the sleeping babe. It was so cunning 
and pretty that her old heart was touched and she 
resolved that live it should. Then she began 
to talk peace, urging her own daughter-in-law to 
listen to reason and soothing the distracted 
mother. Finally, seeking the father in the outer 
court, she said, "Grandson, release your heart. 
Be angry no more. A great pity it is that a son 
was not given you, but this ya-tou is very pretty. 
I already see in her a beautiful girl, for whom you 
can get a rich husband, whose father will give 
you many strings of cash." 

In the Chinese home an aged one's word is law, 
so the baby was neither given away, sold, nor 
killed, but lived and slept and stretched its little 
limbs, growing more charming every day. It had 
such a bewitching way of looking up into their 
faces with its large, beautiful eyes, and puckering 
up its dear little rosebud of a mouth as if trying 
to talk, that in spite of her disappointment the 



mother could not help loving it, and even the 
angry father took to carrying it around buttoned 
into the bosom of his upper garment and laughing 
at its cunning ways. 

When the baby was three days old, they pierced 
its ears, and when a month old they gave a feast. 
The invited relatives came, bringing presents, 
and with much ceremony shaved the little head, 
leaving only a round spot on each side, where the 
silky black hair was not cut off. 

On this memorable head-shaving day, great- 
grandmother placed on baby's neck a silver chain, 
from which hung a curious charm. The charm 
was to ward off the evil influence of the twelve 
devils that are supposed to haunt each Chinese 
child, seeking to kill it, for the first twelve years 
of its life. 

As a rule, the girls in China are not named. 
They are called " Ya-tou,'' i.e., female slave, but 
great-grandmother insisted on this one's having a 
name, so they called her Ping-Kua, which means 
apple. 

Thus shaven, charmed, named, and her ears 
pierced to get them ready for the betrothal rings 
which would some day be hers, little Apple pro- 
ceeded to grow into a beautiful child. Everyone 
noticed her large dark eyes, soft black hair, and 
charming ways, and remarked to her family, 
"You will be able to get a rich mother-in-law for 
your Ya-tou." 



6 



Few things of interest escaped the quick eyes 
and ears of Ping-Kua, and there was something 
on the street all day long. She could hardly take 
time to eat for watching the funeral processions, 
the wedding presents being carried so all could 
see them, the peddlers, and the oflScial chairs. 
Indeed, she often ran with her bowl of cabbage 
soup and rice in one hand, and her chopsticks in 
the other and ate as she gazed. 

But her special delight was the long caravan 
of camels carrying great bags of charcoal on their 
backs. The head camel wore a large bell hung 
on his neck, which sounded with each step he 
took, and carried a man as well as coal; the next 
was fastened to the leader's tail by a cord passed 
through a hole in his nose, and the next was fas- 
tened to his tail in like manner till there were ten 
or twelve in a line. Ping-Kua never tired 
watching them, and though they frightened her 
horribly when they turned their ugly heads, on 
their crooked, wobbly necks, and looked at her 
with their accusing eyes, she always flew to the 
street, when the "Dong, dong, dong,"of a camel 
bell was heard. Sometimes there would be a 
baby camel tied to its mother and then Apple 
and the other children would follow at a safe 
distance to the east gate, laughing and shouting 
at its long, awkward legs and woolly head, and 
the way it crowded close to its mother, being 
afraid. "She can't help it if anybody goes to 



hurt it, 'cause her nose is tied to the next camel's 
tail," remarked one of the boys, as they followed 
one day. 

"Yes, she can," retorted Apple. "I once saw 
one kick awful with her hind foot." 

One day when little Apple was about five 
years old a wonderful thing happened. She and 
the neighbor children were playing in the alley. 
It had rained the night before, and having gath- 
ered some of the soft mud from the street, they were 
squatted on their heels making idols, snakes, and 
lizards of it, when suddenly such a voice as our 
little girl had never before heard, said " Hsiao-hai- 
tzu-men-ni-tso shummaf i.e., "Little children 
you are doing what.?" Looking up Ping-Kua 
saw right by her side the strangest being! Her 
eyes were blue, her skin white, without being 
powdered, and her hair was yellow. Without 
waiting for a second look, Ping-Kua sprang to her 
feet and ran like a squirrel. 

"Come back. She won't hurt you. We 
know her," called one of the older girls, and look- 
ing back, Ping-Kua saw them talking to the 
creature that had so frightened her. Slowly and 
doubtfully she returned, but kept the other 
children between her and the stranger. But she 
soon became so interested in what the white 
lady was doing that she forgot everything else. 

Talking in their own language, the lady said, 
"I, too, can make things out of mud. You 



8 



watch me and see for yourselves." As she talked, 
she took some of the damp earth, rolled it into a 
ball, shaped it like an egg, with the pointed 
end a Httle sharper than an egg ought to be, 
and then as the children bent nearer — Ping-Kua 
with the rest — watching with all their might, the 
deft fingers of the strange being with blue eyes, 
white skin, and yellow hair, shaped the egg into a 
mouse. Rolling a bit of the clay into a long tail 
she then pinched it on the mouse in the right 
place and held up before their delighted eyes a 
mouse crouched down, with its tail curled around 
it, eating something. Ping-Kua danced with 
delight, and forgetting her fear, held out her 
hand, and the lady placed the mouse on her palm, 
telling her that she might keep it. Then she 
told them how in her home land, America, little 
children went to a school called a child garden 
and made things of clay in a beautiful room, in- 
stead of on the dirty street, as they were doing. 

As Ping-Kua stood with the mouse on her 
hand, after the lady had disappeared, staring at 
the place where she had been, one of the children 
broke the spell by saying, "It was a foreign 
devil." 

"No, it wasn't," spoke up the girl who had 
called Ping-Kua back. "It was the Jesus doc- 
trine doctor. She comes to the Jesus Hall and 
treats the sick. My mother took me there and 
the doctor cured my eyes." 



9 



Ping-Kua ran home with the mouse and told a 
marvelous tale of a wonderful lady who made and 
gave it to her. The younger women listened with 
the curiosity of children, but not so the great- 
grandmother. To her the white lady could be 
no other than a demon bent on mischief. Who 
ever heard of a human being with blue eyes and 
yellow hair.^ Who could tell what baneful in- 
fluence had been worked into that mouse to harm 
the child and destroy the family? Dismayed 
at what she heard, with her old eyes bulging with 
fear, she struck the mouse from Apple's hand, 
caught it up with the tongs and drowned it in 
the water hang; then seizing the weeping girl 
and calling the other two, now thoroughly fright- 
ened, women to follow, dragged her to the shrine 
of the Goddess of Mercy. Prostrating themselves, 
they knocked their heads many times on the floor, 
compelling Apple to do the same. Lighting three 
sticks of incense, which she stuck in the incense 
burner, great-grandmother set them smoking 
before the goddess, and they all again fell to 
knocking their heads, beseeching the goddess to 
save them from the demon's curse. 



10 



CHAPTER II 

Six years of freedom brought little Apple to 
her sixth birthday and the beginning of bondage. 
On that fateful day great-grandmother said to 
grandmother, "Daughter, it is time the child's 
feet were bound. She is six years old to-day." 

"Oh! no! no! no!" protested Ping-Kua. "Not 
for a year yet. Great sister's feet were not 
bound till she was seven." 

"Older sister being so plain, there is no hope 
of a rich mother-in-law for her, so it is not im- 
portant that her feet be so very small; but you 
are beautiful and will be a rich man's wife. Come, 
come, now ! See these embroidered pointed shoes 
your mother has made for you. Without the 
bandages you cannot wear them." 

Bribed by the pretty shoes and some cash, 
Ping-Kua slowly put out her plump little foot. 
Grandmother was ready with a strip of strong 
sheeting an inch and a half wide and two yards 
long, and passing it several times around the 
ankle to secure the end, brought it from the inside 
of the ankle across the top of the foot down 
over all the toes except the large one, under 
the foot, up on the inside and around the 
ankle in a figure of eight, bending all the 



11 



small toes, but drawing the little one clear 
under. 

At first the pain was not great, and Ping-Kua 
made light of it, stepping proudly about, showing 
off her embroidered shoes to her playmates; but 
by noon she sat on the kang (brick bed) and did 
not try to walk. By bedtime she was crying and 
begging piteously to have the cruel bandages 
taken off. 

"No, indeed," replied great-grandmother, who 
was grieved to see her darling's lovely eyes filled 
with tears and her sweet little face drawn with 
pain, "never any more. You must just endure 
the pain as the other girls do.'* 

By the end of the week the poor little toes, 
which had scampered here and there with their 
happy owner, were red and tender, and Apple sat 
all day long on the kang holding her aching feet. 
But that would never do. She must learn to bear 
the pain and use her bound feet, mother and 
grandmother insisted, as they approached to help 
her down. Ping-Kua appealed tearfully to great- 
grandma, who had always come to the rescue, but 
great-grandma replied, '' Mei-fa-tzu, pao-pei,'' i.e., 
"There is no help for it, precious." Then the 
tortured child flew into a rage, crying out that she 
could not and would not walk, — that she wanted 
to die, — and there followed such another scene 
as occurred when she was born; they trying to 
pull her off the kang, and she resisting with all 



12 



her might, biting and scratching Kke a wild- 
cat. 

"You unfilial, good-for-nothing slave!" cried 
the mother, making a dive at her. "Why were 
we such fools as to let you live? " 

Between them they dragged her off the hang 
and carried her, screaming and biting, into the 
court and left her there to go without her supper 
and stay out over night or walk back. Of course 
she walked back, but she had to do it on her heels, 
carefully holding up the sore toes, as she clung to 
everything within reach. 

Such scenes were enacted many, many times. 
The father threatened to sell her, older sister and 
companions jeered and exhibited their beautiful 
(?) small feet, while grandmother and mother 
coaxed, bribed, scolded, and beat her by turns, 
drew the bandages tighter and tighter, putting on 
smaller and smaller shoes, till at last poor little 
Apple settled down to the dumb endurance of 
pain, submitting to the inevitable that puts in the 
faces of the Chinese women the look of hopeless- 
ness that so cuts one to the heart. 

Before that time arrived, however, there were 
many weary months of suffering; many days of 
agony, and nights when she could not sleep for the 
pain and yet dared not moan and wake the 
others. She ran no more with the camel caravan, 
but sat in the gate looking wistfully after it. 
Even the candy man didn't draw her often 



13 



into the street, unless he stopped near their 
door. 

One day, about two years after her feet entered 
into bondage, as Apple played jack-stones on the 
steps, an unusually gorgeous funeral came by, and, 
springing up, away she went with the throng of 
children, who ran by the side of the procession, — 
not as she used to run, but surprisingly fast con- 
sidering the condition of her feet. 

She wanted to see all the wonderful display, 
but, becoming weary, and her feet aching hor- 
ribly, she fell behind the rest and, coming to what 
looked like the entrance to a temple, dropped 
down on the steps. 

After the procession had all passed by, cu- 
riosity prompted Ping-Kua to enter and take a 
peep at the idols. When she shyly looked in at 
the door, to her surprise no idols were there, but 
opposite the door, in a fine shrine with silken 
curtains at the sides, sat the image of an official 
in his robes of state. In front was a large bronze 
incense burner, in which smoked several sticks of 
lighted incense. Piled high on either side of the 
image were many volumes of blue-covered books. 
The room did not look like a temple, and while 
Ping-Kua was hesitating between entering, or 
running away, an old man with white hair and 
beard came from one corner of the room, where a 
bed, table, books, and teacups showed the room 
to be his dwelling place, and smiling upon her, 



14 



said, "Little daughter, from where have you 
come?" 

There was something so kind in his voice and 
face that the child could feel no fear, and stepping 
over the high doorsill, she answered his questions 
about her age and name, and then began to tell 
him of the funeral she had been following. 

The old man sat down and listened, greatly 
pleased with the artlessness and beauty of his 
visitor. She told of the gorgeous umbrellas, 
banners, flags, and "tens and tens" of beautifully 
dressed priests. "And the coffin! You should 
have seen the thirty carriers, the red lacquer 
carrying poles, and the golden dragons embroid- 
ered on the red satin cover ! He must have been a 
great man," she added, as, with a sigh, she sat 
down on the floor, and gathering her aching feet 
into her hands to ease them, looked up at him. 

"A great man, was he.^^ And of what advan- 
tage is it to be great?" slowly answered the aged 
one, more as if speaking to himseK than to the girl. 
" I, too, was a great man, and what am I now? " 

The loving child heart caught the pathos in 
his face and voice and quickly responded, "Are 
you not a great man still, honorable old head?" 

"Alas, no! Once this whole place was our 
home. All the courts and large buildings about 
here were ours. Now most of them belong to 
others. We are considered a high family yet, 
but alas! alas!" 



15 



The little girl had her own troubles, but her 
heart went out to the sorrowing old man, and 
rising, she placed a sympathetic hand upon his 
knee, saying, "Grandfather, isn't this hall yours? 
This is a great place." 

"Yes, but in the past we were as if belonging 
to the royal family. Child, do you see yonder 
shrine? That image is of my father. Those 
books are our family record for twenty genera- 
tions. I am eighty and one years old. I live 
only to guard this shrine and worship my ances- 
tors." 

Ping-Kua gazed with awe upon the shrine, 
image, and books, and then upon the white hair 
and beard of her host, and wished they would 
give him as grand a funeral when he died as the 
one she had just seen. Then, suddenly, remem- 
bering she was farther from her own door than 
she was allowed to go alone, she made the old man 
a courtesy, slipped out, and hastened home. 



16 



CHAPTER III 

In that same Chinese city, Ning-Yang, there 
lived a family by the name of Wu, and a proud 
old family it was. Their record ran back for many 
generations without a break, and to keep that line 
unbroken was the dearest wish of their lives; for 
though they had lost official rank and most of 
their great wealth, they had kept all the family 
pride. 

It so happened that though many children 
had been born to them, only one was a boy. 
Upon him rested all their hopes, for daughters are 
not reckoned as children by a Chinese father. 
They belong to the families of the men to whom 
he marries them. 

One morning about two years after the events 
of the last chapter, the Wus were gathered in a 
solemn council. The all-important subject under 
consideration was the finding of a wife for Lung- 
Chu, the son, — one favored of the gods, who 
would become the mother of sons, that her sons, 
and their sons' sons, might worship at the graves 
of the Wus, thus insuring peace and plenty to the 
spirits of the dead ancestors. A fortune-teller 
had selected the day as a lucky one. A necro- 
mancer was present. 



17 



The council was opened by placing burning 
incense and food before the ancestral tablets. 
Each male in the order of his age — the oldest 
first — prostrated himself before them and 
knocked his head on the floor three times. The 
necromancer then came forward and, spreading 
out the Wheel of Life and his books of magic 
and astrology, with a great showing of mystery 
and wisdom, cast the boy's horoscope, which was 
carefully written down. 

The necromancer having been feasted and 
escorted to the outer gate, a go-between was 
called. Very minute directions were given her 
as to the kind of girl she should find, special 
emphasis being laid upon health and the small- 
ness of feet. She was promised an unusually 
large fee if she brought them a prize. 

During the council all turned reverently to a 
white-haired grandfather, who occupied the seat 
of honor, asking his advice. He said but little 
and spoke of no particular family or girl, but all 
the time he felt the touch of a child's hand upon 
his knee, and before the eyes of his memory 
was the picture of a sweet little girl sitting, tailor- 
fashion, on his floor, looking up at him with soft, 
sympathetic eyes; and later he waylaid the go- 
between and told her of Apple's visit. He con- 
cluded with, "She said she was eight years old 
and her father's name was Wei,* living on Right- 

*Pronounced Way. 



18 



eous Harmony Street. It must be near, for her 
feet were tender from the binding, and she 
couldn't have come a great way. That was two 
years ago. She had moth eyebrows, deer eyes, 
cherry hps, and her hair was Hke the raven's wing. 
Find us that girl for our boy's bride, and I will 
double your fee." 

Double her fee! The go-between's heart 
leaped at the thought. What was more, a friend 
of hers (also a go-between) had told her that very 
morning of having been employed by a Wei family 
to find a rich mother-in-law for their unusually 
pretty daughter, and who knew but she was the 
very one.? If so, what luck! None of this, how- 
ever, appeared in her face. She was an oriental. 
Also, she earned her living by her wits and, know- 
ing the grandfather had set his heart on that one 
girl or he never would have offered to double her 
fee, she thought he probably would give still more. 
So she looked discouraged, said it was impossible 
to find a child among so many, and, if by chance 
she should succeed, she would have wasted so 
much heart and received so much weariness, he 
ought in all conscience to give at least ten more 
strings of cash. 

But Grandfather Wu was also an oriental, and 
he knew that, as likely as not, the go-between 
was well acquainted with the Weis, and refused 
to give another cash. They compromised at 
length by his adding five strings and, highly elated 



19 



at her own shrewdness and the luck the gods had 
sent her, she hastened away in search of her 
friend. 

After much talk and drinking of boiUng hot 
tea, the go-between told her friend the news, and 
together they went to Righteous Harmony Street. 

They found Apple at her father's gate in a 
group of children surrounding the taffy man. 
Buying some taffy, the Wei go-between drew 
her to the steps and engaged her in conversation 
while they ate, that the other go-between might 
take a good look at her. 

Presently the Wu go-between asked, "Are you 
the little Wei girl who once visited a venerable 
grandfather in what you took to be a temple.?'* 

Frightened, the child shrank behind her own 
go-between, and timidly replied, "It was a long 
time ago, and I did no harm. Why do you ask?" 

"Of course you did nothing wrong, precious. 
I just wanted to know if it were you. That aged 
white beard was very much pleased with you," 
the go-between replied; then taking leave of her 
friend, she went home and prepared a feast to 
celebrate the wonderful good fortune of the day's 
work. 

The Wei go-between went in with Ping-Kua 
and was feasted by the family, as she gave them a 
greatly exaggerated account of the wealth, posi- 
tion, and good qualities of the prospective mother- 
in-law she had found for their daughter. 



20 



The next day the Wu go-between reported 
secretly to the grandfather and openly to the 
family. All the girl's good points were set forth 
with little regard for the truth. She was modest, 
good-tempered, polite, obedient, and very beauti- 
ful. Her eyes, hair, and especially the smallness 
of feet already obtained were dwelt upon at 
length. 

Negotiations were soon on foot between the 
two families. A necromancer was employed by 
the Weis. Ping-Kua's horoscope was cast, writ- 
ten out on red paper, and sent to the Wus, and 
they sent to the Weis the horoscope of Lung-Chu. 

Again the wise man who read the stars and in- 
terpreted the mysteries of the universe came, this 
time to compare the two horoscopes. 

Great was the suspense of Grandfather Wu 
while this was being done. Now that he knew 
it was his charming Httle friend who might become 
one of the family, he dreaded losing her, and there 
might be something in their birth records which 
would spoil all his plans. Lung-Chu was born 
under the auspices of the rat. Ping-Kua might 
have been born under the influence of the cat, in 
which cast it would never do to unite them, for 
cats kill rats. At last, to his great relief, the wise 
man announced that the two horoscopes har- 
monized. 

Everything was soon completed after that. 
The great red betrothal cards were made out, 



21 



put in their gorgeous red, gold-decorated envelopes 
and exchanged, and the boy and girl were united 
by China's most unbreakable bond, the marriage 
betrothal. 

They were but children, he fifteen and she ten. 
They never had seen each other, and never would 
till they were man and wife, but the necromancer 
had read the secrets of the gods and found out 
that upon the glittering fields of the northern ice, 
in the moonlight, the old God of Matrimony had 
tied their feet together with a red silk string, eons 
and eons before they were born — therefore, 
married they must be. 

For the boy, life went on the same. He was in 
school and remained there. Rumors of the good 
times, with athletics and military drill, enjoyed 
by the boys of the mission school at Great Peace 
City having reached Lung-Chu, he determined 
to attend that school. His people did not like the 
idea. They much prefered his remaining where 
Confucius was worshipped every morning and 
where no foreign religion was taught; but he 
always had had his own way, and was then a 
pupil in the "Jesus people's" school. 

But, for the girl, many things were changed. 
She no longer belonged to her own people. She 
belonged to the Wus and remained with the Weis 
till such time as her husband's family saw fit to 
send for her. The thing for which her life had 
been spared, the thing which from infancy she had 



22 



heard talked of as her destiny, had come to pass. 
She was ting-kui-liao, i.e., bargained for by a rich 
family. The engagement rings hung in the holes 
that had been made in the three-days-old baby*s 
ears for that purpose, and all the neighbors knew 
when they saw them that she was engaged. 

Very proud was Apple of the fact, and I'm 
afraid she tossed her pretty head of tener than was 
at all necessary, that the ear-rings might the bet- 
ter be observed. Henceforth, she must keep in- 
doors and diligently learn to sew, cook, wash, and 
embroider. She must learn the etiquette to be 
observed by a daughter-in-law, and patiently bear 
the pain of her gradually diminishing feet. Poor 
little Apple! The bandages did hurt so cruelly. 
It also hurt her loving heart to know that even 
great-grandmother regarded her now as belonging 
to some one else. 



2H 



CHAPTER IV 

Five years went by with nothing of interest, 
just the same dull round, and then one day some- 
thing happened. A messenger from Mr. Wu 
brought word that the fortunate date, fixed by 
the stars and announced by the necromancer for 
his son to claim his wife, was the fifth day of the 
sixth moon. A servant would wait upon Mr. 
Wei on the morrow bringing money, the wedding 
garments, and wedding presents. 

Ping-Kua was really frightened, as every 
Chinese bride has good reason to be, but true to 
the etiquette for girls, she pretended to be much 
more so than she really was. Crying and pro- 
testing that she couldn't leave her parents, she 
ran and hid when the presents and wedding 
finery came. She was longing to see them, and 
pleased as well as frightened at the near approach 
of the great day of days, but it would have been 
very immodest to show it, so she continued to cry; 
and it was not until her mother and some neighbors 
fairly carried her into the room where they were 
that she would look at the beautiful garments in 
which she was to be dressed. 

Busy days of preparation followed, and by the 
fourth day of the sixth moon all was in readiness. 



24 



Little Ping-Kua, child though she was, would be 
carried out of the gate before daylight of the 
morrow and must be dressed for the great event. 

If the grandmother felt sorry for the little 
girl, she did not show it. If the mother, remem- 
bering her own marriage and what she went 
through, longed to comfort her daughter, she said 
not a word. But great-grandmother, whose 
heart yearned over the child who from her birth 
had been her pet, and whom she was about to lose, 
called Ping-Kua to the brick bed which she was 
no longer able to leave, and holding the warm, 
young hand in both of her old, withered ones, 
talked long and lovingly to the trembhng bride. 

"Precious," she said, "heed my words. No 
matter what they say or do to you to-morrow, 
don't for your life speak, cry, or show in any way 
that you care. They will all be watching you, 
and your future happiness depends upon your 
making no sign. When you arrive, they will take 
you out of the chair and lead you into the house 
where your husband will worship Heaven. When 
he lifts your veil and sees your face for the first 
time, don't raise your eyes; keep them on the 
floor, and remain motionless. He cannot help 
being pleased with your face and feet, and if you 
have perfect control of your feelings, all will be 
well. You must worship the ancestors, knock 
your head on the floor before your mother-in-law, 
father-in-law, and all the rest of the family, and 



25 



your husband, as you have been taught. When 
the ceremonies are over and they seat you on the 
brick bed, clasp your hands in your lap and fasten 
your eyes upon them. The guests will all come 
and stare at you, remarking on your looks, dress 
and temper, — hateful remarks, to make you 
angry; funny ones, to make you laugh; unkind 
ones, to make you cry. They will try to make you 
look up or speak. Do neither. They will say 
you are bad tempered and very homely, and they 
will pull your clothes and throw rice over you 
and down your neck, but remember, neither 
laugh, cry, get angry, speak, nor look up. It will 
be over at last, and the women will come, take off 
the wedding garment and dress you as a daughter- 
in-law. They will pull out the hair on your tem- 
ples by the roots, making your forehead square, 
to show that you are a married woman, and dress 
your hair in the married woman style, and you 
will be settled for life." 

As evening approached, the women — mothers 
of sons — who had been chosen to dress the bride, 
took Ping-Kua in hand. They powdered her face 
and neck till they were white like an idoFs, 
touched her lips with red, and brushed a hint of 
red on her cheeks. Then her heavy black hair 
was done up on her head for the first time and 
stuck through with ornamental hairpins that 
came out over her ears. Red artificial flowers 
followed. The bandages were drawn a little 



26 



tighter on the poor crippled feet and covered by 
beautifully embroidered shoes. Next, the lovely 
red satin wedding garment was donned. The 
finishing touch was green jade ear-rings, gold 
rings, and bracelets, and our Ping-Kua looked 
like a gorgeous oriental doll, only she was flesh 
and blood, and in her great dark eyes there 
brooded a haunting fear. Remember, she was 
an utter stranger even to the man to whom she 
was to be married. 

According to the custom for brides in China, 
Ping-Kua had eaten but little food for three days, 
and there must be no sleep for her that last night. 

By three o'clock in the morning the bang! 
bang! of the big brass cymbals and the long- 
drawn-out wails of the dismal horns were heard 
from far down the unlighted street. The dis- 
turbed sleepers turned on their kangs thinking, 
"Only a bride being carried to her mother-in-law," 
and dropped off to sleep again, while trembhng 
Ping-Kua clung desperately to her life-long pro- 
tector, great-grandmother. 

The red marriage chair, with its images 
and artificial flowers, red carrying-poles and 
carriers, stopped at the Wei's gate. 

With many admonitions as to how she should 
conduct herself, the yard-square of soft red silk, 
which is the wedding veil in China, was thrown 
over Apple, a comer in front and one behind 
covering her to the knees, and she was more carried 



27 



than led over the path of red cloth spread down 
for her to walk upon to the chair, put in it and 
the door closed and locked. Then the carriers 
swung the gorgeous chair to their shoulders and, 
following the lantern bearers who led the way 
with large red lanterns, amid the din of fire- 
crackers and the clashing, bellowing, and wailing 
of musical instruments, which were supposed 
to represent the grief of the daughter at leaving 
her father's house, Ping-Kua went out of the gate. 



28 



CHAPTER V 

Across the country from east, west, north, and 
south, wheelbarrows, piled high with bundles of 
clothing and bedding, and with a girl in the midst 
on each side, propelled by one man pushing behind 
and another pulling in front, were making their 
creaking way toward Great Peace City, bound for 
the mission compound on "The-Way-to-the 
Clouds'* Street, just outside the city wall, 
opposite the Great Temple. 

It was a busy day at the girls' school. Re- 
ceiving and registering the girls, assigning rooms 
and looking over each bundle of clothing to see 
if the required garments, bedding, combs, towels, 
and razors for the head shaving had been pro- 
vided, kept the foreign teacher busy indeed; 
and when a servant came, saying "The Shepherd- 
of-the-Flock from Ning-Yang would speak with 
you about a yao-chin-ti'shih-chingy" i. e., very 
important business, she gasped. How could she 
stop to talk with him? If the Chinese would only 
state their business at once, it would not be so 
bad, but they must drink tea and talk "an old 
half day" before coming to the point. She found 
him in the study, and to her great relief he com- 
menced with "Pardon me, please, for taking any 



29 



of your valuable time this morning, but I am 
asked to see you on what I fear will be a difficult 
business. As you are so busy, I will waste no 
time on the polite, ceremonious Chinese way — 
no, don't send for tea — but state my errand at 
once, Uke a foreigner. You know Wu Lung-Chu 
of the boys' school.f^ " 

"Yes, he is our best scholar." 

"Well, his family is in great unrest. They 
married him to a girl with whom the rest of the 
family are well pleased, but Lung-Chu cannot 
bear to look at her face. According to our 
customs, she has no faults. She is good looking, 
silent, obedient, and a good worker, but her hus- 
band declares she knows nothing, and her small 
feet, of which they supposed he would be proud, 
he thinks are hideous. He says the girls here at 
school are able to read and sing and are intelli- 
gent. Moreover, their feet are natural, and they 
can walk properly instead of hobbling along stiff- 
legged. 

"Both families are eating a great deal of 
bitterness over the situation. No one can do 
anything with Lung-Chu. He has always had 
his way. In their despair, his parents have given 
birth to a good scheme, if it can be carried out, 
and that is my business here this morning. They 
beg you to receive Ping-Kua, their daughter-in- 
law, into this school. They hope that when she 
can read and sing their son may be reconciled to 
her." 

30 



The foreign teacher's face was a study. "Here 
is a situation," she thought. "It has never been 
the custom of our Woman's Foreign Missionary- 
Society to admit married women to the girls' 
schools. They have always attended the train- 
ing schools. But this married woman is but a 
child, only fifteen. Who knows but it might 
be the beginning of a Christian home for the 
leading pupil of the boys' school, who will prob- 
ably be a power in the New China?" 

When she spoke, it was to say, "I hesitate 
about opening our girls' boarding school to mar- 
ried women, but perhaps it is best in this case. I 
must know more about her people first. Ask 
her mother-in-law to come to visit the school 
and see me. Meanwhile, say nothing of this to 
anyone." 

A few days later the parents of Lung-Chu came 
to visit their son. While there it was the most 
natural thing in the world to call upon the foreign 
ladies at the woman's hospital and the girls' 
school. Of course they had a private interview 
with the head of the school. She was greatly 
pleased with them. Evidently they were of a 
much higher class than most of those who sent 
their daughters there to school. However, there 
must be no mistakes made, and she listened again 
to the case, then told them plainly that if she 
received their daughter-in-law it would be a 
special favor, and they must help all they could. 



31 



"In the first place," she said, "her feet must be 
unbound. We admit no girl with bound feet." 

That was a poser, but remembering Lung- 
Chu's remarks about his wife's small feet, they 
consented. 

"Then," continued the teacher, "you know 
ours is a Christian school. We do not require 
our pupils to become Christians, but teach them 
all the * Jesus doctrine,' and hope they will 
believe. Are you wilUng your daughter should 
become a Christian if she so wishes?" 

Again they hesitated, but seeing no other way 
out of their dilemma, replied that they were 
willing. 

When, upon her return from Great Peace City, 
Mrs. Wu laid before the family the school scheme, 
Ping-Kua listened with unbeheving ears; but it 
gradually dawned upon her that they meant to 
send her to the foreigners and to unbind her feet 
for the purpose of making her attractive to Lung- 
Chu. Despair flooded her soul, and to the as- 
tonishment of the mother-in-law the docile, 
obedient Ping-Kua stood before her, an angry- 
eyed rebel, pouring out her wrath as fast as she 
could talk. 

"You'll never send me to school. I'll die 
first. What is the use of my wasting my heart 
to please Lung-Chu? For eight years I have been 
tortured to make my feet so small my husband 
would want me, only to have him say they are 



32 



hideous, and now you want to make them large 
to please him, and the great probability is he 
would still hate me. It will never do. I won't 
go!" 

Bursting into a storm of tears and sobs, she 
threw herself prone upon the kang, wailing, 
"Finished! Finished! I'll die." 

For two days the poor little rejected bride 
lay there, a bundle of misery, refusing all food, 
that she might starve to death and relieve them 
of her hated presence. 

Mrs. Wu was an unusually indulgent mother- 
in-law, but at last her patience came to an end, 
and taking Ping-Kua by the shoulders, she shook 
her soundly. Then, pulling her to a sitting posi- 
tion, she slapped both sides of her face in the 
Chinese mother-in-law fashion, shouting as she 
did it, "Now stop this, you bad creature! We 
are eating enough bitterness over this unfor- 
tunate business without your adding to it. You 
are going to go to school and use your heart to 
learn to read, or we will divorce you." 

Ping-Kua's heart stood still, and her eyes grew 
wide with fear. She knew full well that they 
could do what they pleased with her, and none 
could hinder. She also knew, only too well, what 
fate would be hers if divorced and cast into the 
street. Anything would be better than that. 

Mrs. Wu had brought back from the girls' 
school a pattern for a schoolgirl's shoes, and Apple 



33 



went to work making shoes, and allowed the 
bandages to be loosened on her feet. She re- 
belled no more and did everything they told her 
to do, but it was with a heart of lead. She didn't 
want to go to school. She wanted to keep her 
small feet after getting them by so many years of 
agony. She was afraid of the foreigners. Didn't 
great-grandmother destroy her clay mouse and 
make her knock her head before the idols because 
she had seen and talked with one of them long ago? 
Who knew what evil eye they might cast upon 
her? She was between two great fears, — the 
one of being cast out, and the other of the for- 
eigners. But her fear of "the outside people" 
was not so great as the dread of divorce. Her 
one comfort was the aged grandfather of Lung- 
Chu. Apple had found an old friend in him, and 
he tried to cheer her by saying, "Rest your heart, 
little daughter. If you learn to read the books 
of the holy sage, Confucius, my grandson cannot 
help being pleased with you." 



34 



CHAPTER VI 

Many emotions swayed Ping-Kua as from 
the door of her room, the next morning after 
her arrival at school, she looked upon a court full 
of happy-faced, natural-footed girls, running 
races, playing ball, jumping the rope, and turning 
the mill grinding beans and corn together for 
griddle cakes, laughing as they went round and 
round, while groups of older ones studied aloud, 
swaying to the rhythm of the text as they re- 
peated it. 

As she gazed, astonishment gave place to 
curiosity, curiosity to disgust. "How masculine! 
Just like boys. So unladyUke. And those feet! 
Will mine ever be such shovels? Girls so old, too, 
and not married. Many of them must be older 
than I am." 

Instinctively her hands went up to her hair, 
and there came over her a great feeling of re- 
moteness and age. She was the only one of 
eighty pupils without the queue and bangs that 
proclaim a Chinese girl to be unmarried. Her 
feehngs changed. A wistfulness took the place 
of repulsion. "How different from anything 
I have ever known!" she thought. "They are 
all so free and happy. Oh, dear! I am so 
different, how can I ever stay?" 

35 



Tears welled up in her bewildered eyes, and in 
all the world at that moment there was no girl 
of fifteen who seemed more isolated and forlorn 
than our little Apple. The bottom had fallen 
out of her world, and she had been thrust into 
another one where she felt utterly forsaken. 

Just then a bell rang merrily, and all ran to get 
their Bibles and hymn-books and then flocked 
toward one of the rooms that surrounded the 
court. 

"Come on, we are going to the opening exer- 
cises," called her roommates; and slowly — for 
her feet were in the process of regaining their 
natural shape and walking was difficult — she 
followed. No Bible and hymn-book for her; 
she had never thought of girls being able to learn. 
Only boys had intellect, and besides it was very 
unfeminine to study. 

The merry throng formed in line, two by two, 
and Ping-Kua brought up the rear alone. 

Someone in the room played a strange tune on 
something she could not see, and all marked time 
and then marched to the music into a large room 
filled with benches and desks and were soon 
seated, Ping-Kua on the farthest bench by the 
door. She was no sooner seated, then her fright- 
ened eyes were fastened upon the strange being 
seated by a table on a low platform facing the 
girls. "This must be a foreign devil woman," her 
thoughts ran. " She doesn't look like the one who 



36 



made the clay mouse. How queerly she is 
dressed. How immodest to have her dress fit 
closely and show her form and arms. Is she a 
married woman.? Her hair is don€ up, but not 
pulled out across her temples though," — and again 
the little hands went up to her own bared brow — 
"and her feet!" (Apple forgot her forlornness 
and had to draw her hand back and drop her 
face up to the eyes into the open end of her wide 
sleeve to hide the giggle which would come when 
her eyes had reached the lady's feet.) "Such 
shovels! And of all the ugly shoes one ever 
saw — plain black, with not a flower or bright 
thing about them. Of what could such disgust- 
ing looking shoes be made.^*" Just there she was 
brought back to her senses by the lady's saying 
in Chinese, "We will sing the one hundred and 
twentieth hymn." 

One of the girls went to a queer-looking box 
with white teeth along one edge, sat down, worked 
her feet, ran her fingers over the teeth, and a 
strange music came out of it. All the girls began 
to sing, except Ping-Kua, who nearly fell off her 
seat in astonishment. 

"Jesus loves me, this I know, 
For the Bible tells me so," 
was what they sang. What it all meant, Apple 
could not make out, but some one loved some one, 
and she was very hungry for a little love, just 
then, thrust out as she was from home among 



37 



entire strangers. Who Jesus was she didn't 
know, only the missionaries were called "Jesus 
people,*' but she did know that her life was empty 
of love, and a great longing rose within her heart 
to be loved. Great-grandmother Wei loved her, 
and Grandfather Wu loved her, but they seemed 
thousands and thousands of miles away, as she 
sat there so utterly alone. The foreign lady 
saw the little wife on the back seat, and under- 
stood the wistful look on the sweet but sad face, 
and her heart went out to the lonely child. 

Would wonders never cease? After the sing- 
ing, each girl in the room — herself excepted — 
opened a book and read in turn. Actually rec- 
ognized the Chinese characters like hsien-shengs 
(*'before-me-born," which means scholar). Ping- 
Kua's heart began to beat rapidly. If those 
girls could learn to read, she could and would. 
Was it possible she, too, could learn to sing and — 
but no! It was too much even to dream of being 
able to make music by fingering the white teeth 
of the box, and yet, the girl who did it was no 
older than she. A wonderful vision rose before 
her, and she vowed then and there to throw 
her whole soul into her new life and learn all it 
was possible for her to learn. A vow that she 
kept, as we shall see. 

The service over, the pupils marched out in 
the order in which they had entered, bringing 
Ping-Kua the last. As she started, the foreign 



38 



lady was at her side. She spoke to her lovingly 
and, putting an arm about her to help her balance 
on the awkward feet, walked with her, talking 
as if they were old friends. Something loosened 
about the young wife's heart, and it expanded 
even as her feet had straggled out when the 
bandages came off, and from that hour real life 
began. 

It wasn't easy. The maimed feet took time 
in recovering, and it was many weeks before she 
could walk and run easily and without pain, but 
the glad day came and then how delightful it 
was. The gymnastic exercises and running and 
jumping at first shocked all her ideas of modesty, 
but she soon learned to look forward to them with 
the joy of a child set free, and later, when there 
was a kicking match, none kicked higher than 
Ping-Kua, much to her satisfaction. But that 
was many weeks after that first day. It was 
very mortifying to be obliged to enter the classes 
of the smallest girls, and sometimes, when she 
caught a significant glance passing between two 
of them, it made her angry, but she kept on 
determined to win. 

Her greatest trial was being married. It made 
her so conspicuous to be the only one without 
bangs and a braid, and then, too, the girls teased 
her about Lung-Chu. One day, when they had 
teased her unmercifully, she put on all her wed- 
ding finery, powdered her face, and touched her 



39 



lips with red and went to morning exercises, 
thinking to make those who teased envious. All 
went well till they were leaving the room, and 
then a hand detained Ping-Kua, and the foreign 
hsien-sheng's voice said, close to her ear, "Go to 
your room and wash your face. Painting and 
powdering are false, and we love true things." 
Oh, how ashamed she was! "Every bride paints 
her face. Oh, dear! there are so many queer 
ways at school," she thought, and the powder 
was first washed off by tears. 

Then Sunday came, and the girls said they 
all went to worship in the high brick building, 
whose roof could be seen over the wall surrounding 
the school premises. 

Everything in the new world to which Ping- 
Kua had come was so different from her past life 
that the little girl had grown to expect a surprise 
at every turn; but when with the other school- 
girls she marched into the Christian temple 
and found no idols, no incense burning, and no 
shaven-headed priests, she stared with aston- 
ishment. 

Where the idols ought to be were only some 
chairs, a stand with books upon it, and at the 
side one of those music boxes, with white teeth 
along one edge, which she now knew to be an 
organ. There was no more than time to note 
these things, when the tramp of marching feet 
coming in behind her struck Apple's ears, and 



40 



wonderingly she looked around — straight into 
the eyes of her husband, as he marched up the 
aisle at the head of a long line of schoolboys. 

With a furious blush suffusing her throat and 
face, Apple quickly turned and sat with downcast 
eyes, while her riotous heart-beats kept pace with 
the swift thoughts. "Lung-Chu! And at the 
head of the schoolboys. How handsome he 
looked! Did he know of my coming? If not, 
what will he say and do about it?" Then fiery 
indignation surged through her being. "What 
had she done to merit such treatment from her 
husband? It was through no fault of hers that 
Lung-Chu despised her. All her life she had been 
trained to please him, and it was unjust and cruel 
to treat her with contempt." 

The ideal Chinese daughter-in-law who had 
been taught from the sacred books that girls 
should have four virtues, — silence, obedience, 
good looks, and ability to work, — had traveled 
a long way on the road to individuality in those 
few days of liberty, that she dared to have such 
thoughts. But there they were. Moreover, 
without in the least suspecting it, Ping-Kua 
had made a grave breach in school etiquette by 
looking at the schoolboys marching into church, 
and the girls by her side were nudging each other. 

Had Lung-Chu recognized his wife? That he 
had, and though it was the first he knew of any 
such scheme as sending her to school, he was too 



41 



well versed in Chinese li* to show his surprise 
and went on as if he had not seen. 

Anyone looking at Lung-Chu, as he sat with 
his eyes on the Bible in his hands, might have 
supposed him engaged in silent prayer, so serene 
was his face, but the tumult in his heart was equal 
to Ping-Kua*s agitation. He knew at once the 
reason of her presence. In but one way was it 
possible. His parents had sent her. Did they 
think she could learn? Evidently it was with the 
hope of winning him she had been put in school. 
"Well," he thought, "we will wait awhile and see. 
It is just possible Apple has some intelligence. 
She certainly is hao-hariy^ but she must learn 
better than to look at the schoolboys. Liao-pu 
telX I hope none of the boys will find out she is 
my wife." 

How Ping-Kua did enjoy school life, — once 
the stage of gasping astonishment was past. 
Friends, girl friends! For the first time in her 
life she knew what it was to have free compan- 
ionship with girls of her own age. Then the 
music was such a joy. Apple had never sung 
before, and to her delight it was soon discovered 
that she had an unusual talent for music and a 
beautiful voice. One of the American ladies, 
who was a musician, took Ping-Kua in hand at 
once, setting her to practising on the organ and to 

*Pronouiiced lee, meaning etiquette. 
fHow-kan., i. e., good to look at. 
tLee-ou-boo-du. 

42 



reading music. Every minute not required for 
other duties, the ardent music student spent 
drilling away at the organ. Her progress was 
marvelous, both in vocal and instrumental music, 
and her beaming face as she sang was good to 
behold. 

Long before Apple could recognize the char- 
acters representing them, she had committed to 
memory the words and music of most of the hymns 
used in school and worship. The book lessons 
were also a delight. With them Apple was as 
quick as with music, and soon left her class far 
behind. 

Time flies when one is busy and happy. 
Nearly a year had gone when one day, hearing a 
classmate remark, "Vacation will soon be here," 
a deadly fear seized Ping-Kua. Perhaps they 
would not allow her to return to school. She 
knew it would depend upon Lung-Chu. What 
would he say? 

The same question had risen in the foreign 
teacher's mind. She did not want to lose her 
bright pupil, and for the sake of the girl, who had 
blossomed out so wonderfully in the genial atmos- 
phere of school life, she hoped the husband would 
continue to be indifferent. 

So far Lung-Chu had ignored his wife. He 
might have called upon her Saturdays, as the 
other boys called upon their sisters, but he had 
never done so. 



43 



When vacation came, it was with many mis- 
givings that Ping-Kua rode away on the wheel- 
barrow sent for her, and that her teacher saw her 
go. What would be the outcome? Again in- 
dignation burned in the heart of the rejected wife. 
Lung-Chu could return to school at his own sweet 
will, without reference to her, but one word from 
him would put an end to her happy school life. 



44, 



CHAPTER VII 

When school opened the following year, to 
the joy of teachers and pupils, Ping-Kua was in 
her place. 

What a wonderful year of enjoyment and de- 
velopment that was to her! With the same en- 
thusiasm with which in childhood she had fol- 
lowed camel trains, Apple now threw her whole 
soul into school life. None could run faster, 
swing the dumb-bells better, or recite lessons equal 
to Ping-Kua. 

Great Peace City lay at the foot of the sacred 
mountain, Tai, and one lovely spring day the 
foreign teacher took the school part way up 
the mountain and turned them loose. When 
she gave the signal to scatter, with one accord the 
girls broke into a shout that echoed and re- 
echoed among the crags, and ran till out of breath. 
Wild with the pure joy of freedom, up the trail, 
over the boulders, — wherever a flower was to be 
found— down the steep banks to the brook 
that made pools and eddies in its mad race 
to the plain, went the girls, with Ping-Kua as 
leader! Ah, it was worth while having her feet 
unbound to be able to scramble like that! 

Weary at last, and laden with flowers, mosses. 



45 



pebbles, snail shells, and even little fishes that 
they had caught in the brook, the school formed 
into line and, singing the Christian songs, marched 
home; while the bound-footed girls by the way 
paused in their grinding at the mill to look en- 
viously after them. 

For the third time, at the opening of the girls' 
school, Ping-Kua Wu (or Wu Ping-Kua, as is the 
Chinese custom of putting the surname first) was 
among the pupils. This time it was no forlorn, 
friendless child who sprang from the wheel- 
barrow at the mission gate and ran joyously into 
the school court. It was a self-reliant young lady, 
who was enthusiastically welcomed by everyone, 
— especially by the younger pupils, with whom 
she was a great favorite. 

School life went on as usual till Christmas 
time, approaching, sent a thrill of excitement 
tingling along the nerves of old and young. 
Mysterious boxes from that fairyland, Ta-Mei- 
Kua,^ (America) had come for the missionaries. 
A whisper of something that was to take place 
in the church had filtered through from the 
minister's family, whose girls were pupils, and a 
general spirit of expectancy and secrecy pervaded 
the school for weeks before active preparations 
began. 

When Christmas eve arrived, all the schools 
of the mission, all the Christians of the place, 

*Pronounced Dd-May-Gua. 



46 



all the servants employed by the mission, the 
Sunday School scholars, and the patients from 
the hospital, poured into the church, filling it to 
overflowing. The church had been decorated 
by the schoolboys with large gold Chinese char- 
acters representing "peace," "love," '*joy," 
"grace," and with evergreens given them by a 
rich man from his burial grove. The pulpit and 
altar seemed a bower of potted plants and ever- 
greens, while an illuminated star hung from the 
ceiling over the pulpit. At one side there was a 
pyramid made of four ladders, set far apart at the 
bottom and coming together at the top, on which 
were hung the presents that had come in those 
mysterious boxes from America. The church 
was ablaze with lights and full of people ablaze 
with oriental garments of many colors. 

The first part of the program, consisting of 
several Christmas songs — one sung by the school- 
boys in English — and recitations by the smaller 
boys and girls, had been rendered when the 
leader said, "We will now listen to a solo by Wu 
Ping-Kua." There was a hush all over the 
house. Eyes were furtively turned upon Lung- 
Chu. Ping-Kua, dressed elegantly, her naturally 
beautiful face radiating a higher beauty that 
comes only with soul growth, went gracefully 
upon the platform and, forgetting the audience 
in the rapture of pouring forth the joy of life in 
song, she filled the church with the sweetest of 



47 



music, flinging out her soul in the old triumphant, 
"Joy to the world, the Lord has come.'* 

The audience seemed to hold its breath while 
she sang, and when she had finished and was retir- 
ing, a sigh passed through the congregation. 

If Ping-Kua's singing so affected the audience, 
what of Lung-Chu? 

Although he had ignored his wife's existence 
both at home and at school all those months, 
ever since that Sabbath morning when her great 
sorrowful eyes looked into his as he marched up 
the church aisle, those eyes had haunted him 
night and day. From them there was no escape. 
Furtively he had watched Ping-Kua's develop- 
ment. With secret pride he heard of her wonder- 
ful advancement at school, and now as she sang, 
there was something in her voice besides melody 
which went straight to his heart. There was a 
light in Ping-Kua's face which held her husband 
even against his will, and though outwardly he 
might have been one of the idols in the great 
yellow-roofed temple opposite, inside the city wall, 
so motionless he sat, so expressionless was his 
face, in his soul a miracle was being wrought. 
It came to Lung-Chu like a revelation that, com- 
paring the time they had spent in study, Ping-Kua 
had far outstripped him in scholarship, proud 
as he had been of his record; that it had been 
unjust and cruel in him to think her stupid when 
she had had no opportunity to learn; that she 



48 



had a right to his respect for her individuahty 
and his admiration for her mental and spiritual 
qualities. The old Confucian idea of woman, 
which he had held, died at that moment, and 
love — the real love of man for his companion, 
woman, — welled up in his heart for his beautiful 
wife, and filled his being with a great content and 
such joy as he had never known. 



49 



CHAPTER VIII 

At the close of Ping-Kua's third year in 
school, Lung-Chu graduated. He had been the 
leader of his class for several years, and when 
the final examination report was given he stood 
the highest of all. 

According to Chinese custom, the names of 
graduates were posted on the outside wall of the 
mission compound, where all passers by could 
see them. The name of the one passing the high- 
est had a red circle drawn around it. 

"Ping-Kua! Ping-Kua!" called one of the 
girls, running into the court the next day after 
the examinations. "The vermilion pencil has 
passed around Lung-Chu*s name on the wall. 
The hsien sheng told me. Good! Good! Are 
you not glad?" 

Yes, both proud and glad was Apple, but — 
"What does he think of me.^^ Did he like my 
singing? Will he accept me now?" were the 
anxious questions deep in her heart. Oh, if he only 
would love her, and treat her as the American 
pastor treated his wife, how happy she would be! 

As school drew to a close and all was prepara- 
tion for departure, poor Apple's heart hung like 
a ball of lead in her breast. As her husband had 



50 





M 




graduated, she would not be allowed to return. 
This was the last of school for her. No more 
lessons, music, friends, and good times; and in 
their place — what? Perhaps divorce, after all. 

The evening before home-going, Ping-Kua 
was in her room "crying her eyes out," when 
the American teacher came to her and said, with 
a ring of joy in her voice, "Dry your eyes, little 
girl, I have good news for you. Lung-Chu is in 
my room waiting to see you, and from the tone 
of voice in which he said, *My wife,' I think your 
troubles are at an end.'* 

The next morning, amid the good wishes and 
good-byes of companions and teachers, Lung-Chu 
took his place on one side of the wheelbarrow 
that was to carry him home, while a radiant 
Ping-Kua took her place on the other side; and 
it was not necessary to inquire what had passed 
between them the evening before, to know that 
they were now united by a bond vastly different 
from the old God of Matrimony's red silk string. 



It was one year and a half later, when at night- 
fall the weary mission doctor, who had traveled by 
wheelbarrow since daybreak, turned into the 
court of the native pastor at Ning-Yang. Her 
one thought was to have something to eat and 
get into bed, for there would be many patients on 



51 



the morrow. An hour had not passed when three 
sedan chairs were set down at the door. From the 
first a servant assisted an elderly lady to alight; 
from the second stepped a very young lady; 
while from the third came a servant carrying a 
baby. The ladies and baby were richly dressed 
in exquisite silk garments of blended colors. 

When the doctor's assistant announced callers, 
the doctor went to the door and was about to 
receive them in the usual ceremonious way, when 
the young woman ran forward and, grasping her 
hands, exclaimed, " Tai fu!* Don't you recog- 
nize me? Joyous is the day upon which I again 
see your face." It was Ping-Kua. The doctor's 
weariness vanished, and with joy known only to 
those who have helped others to a higher plane 
of life and so to happiness, she welcomed her 
guests and sat late listening to Ping-Kua's story. 
"Tell my teachers, when you return, that I shall 
never forget them," Ping-Kua said, when she had 
talked till out of breath. "All my happiness I 
owe to them. I am so happy, Tai-fu. My hus- 
band loves me and treats me as the foreign shep- 
herds-of-the-flock treat their wives. You re- 
member how I loved music? My husband 
bought me an organ and I play while we sing 
together the songs we learned at school. And 
this is my little son, Tai-fu, We are all so happy 
over him. Come, precious, and let our American 
*Pronounced Die-foo. 



52 



friend see how sweet you are." Herself, the 
beautiful picture which will some day be painted 
of the New Oriental Woman, with her beaming 
face against its velvet cheek, she carried the baby 
across the room and put it in the doctor's out- 
stretched arms, saying, "The name of my precious 
has been placed on the family record, and grand- 
father says he is now ready to die, since his eyes 
have seen the twenty-first generation." 



53 



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